Orange Cupcakes

These tasty orange cupcakes are so easy to make! Top the cupcakes with orange and white buttercream, sprinkles, or candy.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 428kcal

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Put the lemon cake mix, water, vegetable oil, eggs, unsweetened orange Kool-Aid drink mix, and orange food coloring in a mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Divide the batter evenly among 24 lined muffin cups.
Bake at 350˚F for 19-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Beat the butter and shortening until creamy.
Add half of the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating on low speed until well blended. Add the half-and-half, orange extract, and vanilla extract. Then, mix in the remaining powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
Remove about half of the buttercream and set it aside. Add orange food coloring to the buttercream in the mixing bowl and mix until evenly colored.
Put the white buttercream in one pastry bag and the orange buttercream in another. (If your pastry bags aren’t big enough, add what you can and refill as needed.) Cut the tips off each of the filled bags and place them both in a third pastry bag fitted with a piping tip. I used an Ateco #846 closed star tip.
Pipe the buttercream on the cupcakes and add desired decorations.

Store the frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 1-2 months.